40-year-old Irish Kiteboarder drowns at Hua Hin yesterday

A 40-year-old Irish national has drowned in rough seas at Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Hua Hin district yesterday after a kiteboarding accident.

Jaruak Khongkarien the investigating officer from the Hua Hin Police department said that they were notified of the incident yesterday (December 20,) when officers arrived at the beach close to Soi Hua Hin 77 they found the body of the Irish man only known by his first name “Jonathan” on the beach after it had been dragged ashore.

Officers interviewed employees from the kiteboard store where the man had hired equipment to go surfing alone yesterday at around 12pm.

Tourists in the area stated that they saw the Irish national signalling for help while out in the water and employees from the shop rushed into the water at that point in an effort to aid the stricken man.

When they reached Jonathan they discovered his leg had become tangled with a buoy used to indicate the swimming area after it is presumed the strong winds and waves caused a collision.

After they were finally able to free the man he was taken to shore where CPR was applied but he was already dead.

Officers investigating the incident concluded that the man had died before being brought back to the beach and are currently in the process of contacting his family to deliver the news of his death.

Warnings had been issued against taking part in water sports in the area yesterday as a result of the dangerous conditions which were a result of approaching storm Kai-Tak.

It was reported however that many tourists especially kiteboarder’s ignored the warnings and were seen out at both Hua Hin and Pranburi beaches.